Looking back at some of my favorite fragrances from my teen years on this National Fragrance Day…

Calvin Klein’s “CK One” – this scent may have been responsible for my current love for unisex smells. I got introduced to it in the seventh grade, three years after its debut. Since I was a total geek in junior high, in my attempt to be cool, I wore what the cool girls wore. And the cool girls wore CK One.

Clinique’s “Happy” – the very first fashion mag I owned was a late 90s copy of Allure, given to me for free by my then-dentist. The date of the mag is lost on me but the two things I remember from it was that supermodel Niki Taylor was on the cover, and an ad for this perfume. Its fruity, citrus-y notes attracted me. When I put this on now, it’s an instant throwback to eighth grade (oh, whyyyy did the Spice Girls break up?!).

Estee Lauder’s “Dazzling” – RIP Dazzling, both gold and silver. A relative gifted me Dazzling Silver, and it was the first perfume that made me feel grown up and sophisticated like Liz Hurley in that ad (even if I was still a geek now in my high school years).

Tommy Hilfiger’s “Tommy Girl” – another scent that takes me back to my high school years. I also used to be a mild gamer then, so now whenever I get a whiff of Tommy Girl, I get this weird urge to play Wipeout XL on the OG Playstation.

Body Fantasies’ “Raspberry Fantasy” – this is actually the very first fragrance I bought. (The others listed here were either gifts, something borrowed from relatives, or a scent I would buy later on.) I think it was, what, $3 at Walgreens then? I know Body Fantasies had other scents, but Raspberry Fantasy was my jam. Sad that this scent no longer around, and the current incarnation of Bath & Body Works’ Sun-Ripened Raspberry is doing its best to fulfill my raspberry cravings, but it’s not the same! (B&BW even messed with the original formula of SRR! Booooo!)